Virginia living

[Summertime]

I have an opportunity to relocate to Virginia.
Anyone who does live there is asked to tell me where the best place to move to would be.
I like big city living, but also suburbs; lots of stores around.

[Lsura]

Are you limited to any specific part of VA?



Not that I live there, or really know anything about it, but I do know that there are different areas - the area around DC is very different from the Roanoke area, for example.

[TeleTronOne]

Northern, or "other" Virginia? There's a big difference between the two.

If you're looking into Northern Virginia, then the nicer (as in, nice, but not super-rich nice) suburbs are probably around the Reston/Herndon area. Pretty close to that is Loudon County, which is a lot cheaper, not too far out of the mix, and just starting to get out into the boondocks a little.

Closer to the city, there's... well, everything else. Alexandria is right on the other side of the river from DC, and it has everything from ultra-cheap to super-expensive. I live in one of the "not all that great" parts of Alexandria, and it's not so bad, considering what I'm paying in rent. The occasional fight in the parking lot, but nobody's been shot yet.

If it's stores you're after, you should have no problems. Around where I live, there are two mid to large sized malls within 10 miles, the Potomac Mills mega-mall about 20 miles out, and individual stores in between.

It should also be noted that if you're looking into something in Northern Virginia, that you might want to consider Maryland as a possible place of residence. I, however, don't really know much about it.

[TeleTronOne]

Northern, or "other" Virginia? There's a big difference between the two.

If you're looking into Northern Virginia, then the nicer (as in, nice, but not super-rich nice) suburbs are probably around the Reston/Herndon area. Pretty close to that is Loudon County, which is a lot cheaper, not too far out of the mix, and just starting to get out into the boondocks a little.

Closer to the city, there's... well, everything else. Alexandria is right on the other side of the river from DC, and it has everything from ultra-cheap to super-expensive. I live in one of the "not all that great" parts of Alexandria, and it's not so bad, considering what I'm paying in rent. The occasional fight in the parking lot, but nobody's been shot yet.

If it's stores you're after, you should have no problems. Around where I live, there are two mid to large sized malls within 10 miles, the Potomac Mills mega-mall about 20 miles out, and individual stores in between.

It should also be noted that if you're looking into something in Northern Virginia, that you might want to consider Maryland as a possible place of residence. I, however, don't really know much about it.

[RTFirefly]

I second Lsura's and TTO's question. I've lived in Alexandria, Newport News, Bristol, Charlottesville, and Blacksburg, and these are very different places. Virginia's not a small state.

[plnnr]

Split the difference between Tidewater (Chesapeake, Newport News, etc.) and NOVA (anything north of Stafford) and come to Richmond. The city-center is undergoing a revitalization, two new malls are about to open (including Nordstrom and some other high-end anchors in addition to Dillards), and you're roughly equal travel time between the mountains and the beach (roughly 1.5 hours either way, depending on traffic). Plus, the prices are much more reasonable than in Tidewater or NOVA.

On the other hand, there's Charlottesville...it all depends on what you're looking for.

[FairyChatMom]

I lived in King George for 3 years - loved the area, although it was quite rural. About 20 miles east of Fredericksburg and not to terribly far from the DC Megalopolis. I'm not a fan of big cities for living in, but I like to be close enough to avail myself of the amenities. I hated when we moved back to Florida...

[Summertime]

I was thinking of being near the ocean; whats the scoop on Virginia Beach?

[tunabreath]

I love the ocean, I never feel right when I'm away from it. I've lived in Va. Beach the last 23 years except for about 6 mos. in Iowa for the winter (very cold!). I've also lived in R.I. and Fl. as well.
The weather here is mild for the most part, not as cold as the north or hot as the deep south. We get the occasional snow storm now and then but ut melts off fairly fast. The southern end of the city is woods and farmland. We have no skyline, for that there a bit of one in Norfolk. Lots of malls, stores, suburbs etc. Williamsburg is about 50 miles away to the NW and further south is Cape Hatteras, N.C.
For beaches there is the Atlantic and the Chesapeak Bay. The Northern beach (oceanfront) is mostly residential and NOT commercial or touristy - bad parking, the southern (middle) beaches are very commercial and touristy, the "Resort Strip" is this one. The southernmost beach is Sandbridge, it is a quiet oceanfront beach, mostly residential, good parking.
The fishing here is GREAT! Tuna, dolfin (mahi mahi), wahoo, marlin are offshore. Bluefish, cobia, drum and trout inshore along with your smaller fish like flounder and spot. Oh, striper fishing is very good too.
I hope this helps. Ask away.

[romansperson]

I lived in Virginia Beach for 12 years.

The cost of living is reasonable, but the job market isn't very good, even in good economic times. Most of the people who live in that area are either in the Navy or work for the Navy, so if you have a skill that the military can use, you will do all right, but if not it's hard to find a decent job. Salaries also tend to be lower because the employers there know they have a captive audience of military spouses at their disposal.

The best beaches are actually located on the Navy bases there (at least in my opinion - they are always clean and never crowded), so if you can get a civil service job or work for a contractor who is on base, you'll have access to the base and therefore the beaches there. I never cared for the Oceanfront strip in the summer because it's very crowded and parking is bad. During the winter, many of the stores and restaurants down there close.

Since it's pretty densely populated, you won't have any trouble finding shopping, though. It's everywhere. When I lived there I could count four 7-11's within a four-mile radius of my house. There were also two malls within 5 miles. The nicest, newest mall is MacArthur Center in Norfolk, which has some fairly upscale stores and a nice movie theater. Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach is the largest.

The crime rate in the area is fairly low, with Virginia Beach being the lowest of the cities in that vicinity (Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton - Chesapeake's is probably close to the same as VB's).

As far as restaurants go, the seafood restaurants are usually decent but there isn't much as far as ethnic food goes. I spent all 12 years there looking for a really good Italian restaurant and never found one. My favorite restaurant there is the Duck Inn - it's mostly locals and located on a prime spot of real estate overlooking the Bay. They have a huge seafood buffet and the food is pretty good, plus they have a gazebo out over the water where you can sit and have a drink. If you like Greek food, go to the Greek Festival at the Annuciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Norfolk (it's usually held in May). Food to die for.

The Washington DC area is about 3 -1/2 hours away, so you could make a trip out of stopping at Williamsburg and King's Dominion on your way. There is also a horse track up that way, but I've never been there.

If you are a sports fan, there aren't any major league sports, but the Norfolk Tides AAA baseball team has a lovely small stadium there and I believe they still have the Admirals hockey team if I remember correctly. There was arena football while I was still living there, but I don't know if they still have it. Norfolk State has a team too (but Old Dominion University does not).

The weather can be very hot and humid in the summer (and don't get me started on the mosquitoes - they are *terrible* - since you are living near the Great Dismal Swamp, though, what-are-ya-gonna-do), but mild in the winter. It doesn't tend to snow much, and when it does it either won't stick or it will melt within a few days. The weather forecasters tend to try to whip up a panic over 1 inch of snow. Just ignore 'em.

We did have one low-strength hurricane hit us while we lived there that did a fair amount of damage. I don't think I'd want to be around for a stronger one.

If you have any specific questions I'd be glad to answer.

[/\/\etalhea|)]

I've lived here all my life, and I'll never leave. Once you've seen our mountains and lakes, you won't want to either.

I live in the Roanoke area, actually in Salem. It's wonderful here. Very low crime rate, very friendly. Contrary to what a lot of the NOVA people will tell you, we have plenty of good stores and malls, but we don't have to deal with all the traffic and the snipers.

I may be a little biased, and I don't want to hijack your thread with an argument, but my concept of the Richmond/Norfolk area is one of a place with a really high crime rate. I have realtives there, and I wouldn't live there.

As someone mentioned before, Blacksburg has got to be one of the best places in the world to live. If the SDMB was a town, it'd be Blacksburg. It's home to my beloved Va Tech. It's a very intellectual and web-connected community, in addition to being nestled in a truly lovely place in the mountains. Thanks to VT, it has state-of-the-art smart roads leading in and out, so travel is not a concern. Lots of great little shops, and you can walk the streets at 2 am without fear. Great Place.

I don't know Alabama, but if you've ever been to Little Rock, Arkansas, I found that to be a lot like Roanoke, only we have a lot more mountains and not much of an inner-city, bad neighborhood sort of area.

[Elza B]

I live in Richmond and the crime rate has declined. I moved back after a four-year absence living in NYC and while I don't plan on staying here indefinitely, it's been nice to return to my hometown. Richmond, Chesterfield County especially, has grown in leaps and bounds over the past ten years. Chesterfield, slightly south of Richmond, is known as one of the best places to raise kids in the country, the schools are outstanding, and the job market is decent. Housing prices are beginning to skyrocket slightly, but nowhere near the range of Northern Virginia.

My only complaint is that we seem to be turning into the Stepford Suburbs in some ways - too many SUV-driving soccer moms letting little Brittany and Justin run wild for my taste (and that's just a personal preference - it seems to be in my neighborhood that this has really begun to occur, although I do like most of my neighbors a lot). If that doesn't bother you, Richmond has a fairly decent singles scene downtown and there seems to be a new festival every weekend in the spring and summer. Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens and Colonial Williamsburg are only an hour away each at the most, you're 2 hours away from VA Beach, and a few more hours away from the North Carolina beaches, and the mountains are just a few hours the other way.

If it weren't for the fact that I've lived here my whole life and want to get out to the Southwest, I think this would be a wonderful place to live for the rest of my life.

Ava

[Bippy the Beardless]

I know nothing about Virginia, but my hay fever is stinging my eyes, and making them blurry. Thanks for the childish laugh I get reading this thread title as Vagina lining.

[catnoe]

I'm from North Carolina originally but I married a guy who joined the Navy and the first place we lived as a married couple was in Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk is what I consider to be home now.
In our 16 years of marriage a little over 6 years were spent in Norfolk, a little over 6 spent in DC/Northern Virginia and a little over 3 in Naples, Italy.

It depends, as someone mentioned, what kind of job you have or are looking for. I don't work so it doesn't matter to me. I prefer Norfolk, like I said, to me it is home.
I don't like VaBch. It's too spread out and has no 'heart'. If I had to live in VaBch I'd have to live at the oceanfront because that is the closest thing to a downtown there but then I would get in trouble for running over tourist.
Norfolk has a beach too, Oceanview. It is much better than it was when I moved there '87, a lot of renewal going on. When we go house hunting next year we'll be looking for something off Granby St. which runs into Oceanview. (Can't afford the houses in Ghent which is where we'd really like to live.)
If you plan to rent, I recommend Ghent, it's REALLY close to downtown proper. It has several grocery stores, lots of good restuarants, the Naro theater, which plays/played smaller movies and foreign films. Ghent has boutiques and antique stores galore. It's a few miles from ODU, and Norfolk Navy Station. There is the Midtown tunnel to Portsmouth and then options from there like the Monitor-Merrimac bridge/tunnel to Hampton, Newport News, and the rest of the peninsula.

Northern Virginia/DC - How well do you handle stress?
If you plan to drive to work you might want to change your mind. We do have the Metro, Hubby takes it everyday to work. The Metro will get you close to where you want to go as long as where you want to go is in the District.
There seems to be plenty of jobs here and housing as there is constant building. Plenty of shopping and restaurants. Lots of museums.
Cost of living is high here. I live in the District and am paying a ridiculous sum for a one bedroom apartment. A one bedroom/ 1000 sqf apartment is gonna run you $ 1000+ a month.
The 'burbs might be less expensive. But what's the fun of living somewhere if you don't live smack-dab in the middle of everthing.

I can give you my thought on Naples, Italy if you like.

[Summertime]

Should I go to Lynchburg and visit good ol Falwell?

[plnnr]

If you go to VA Beach you'll be in Pat Robertson territory, so I'd take that into consideration as well.

[romansperson]

Actually, Pat pretty much keeps to himself , though the political climate in the Tidewater area is very much conservative. That's more due to the military presence than the religious one though. It is also an area that is decidedly not friendly to gays, and I would definitely not recommend a gay person live there. Two former coworkers of mine (one of whom was also a friend), both gay, were murdered during the time I lived there - one was shot in the head along with his bf in his car in a bad area of Portsmouth and the other was kidnapped from his apartment in the Oceanview section of Norfolk and driven over the NC state line, where he was shot in the face and abandoned in a farmer's field.

So perhaps I should amend my previous statement about the crime rate in the area to say: it's fairly low unless you are gay. If so, don't go.

[BF]

Current rez o' VA Beach. Good ocean, 50-50 touristy yearround residents at the beach proper. Jet noise, lots of it. VA Beach is still 35% rural, which I think is a good thing. Lots of complaints about traffic, but it's a breeze compared to NoVA. (BTW, raised in NoVA, have turned down numerous job offers to relocate to NoVA, if that's any indication). Largest city pop. wise in the state. Current unemployment in VA Beach is 3.9%, compared to Norfolk at 4.6%.

[BF]

one was shot in the head along with his bf in his car in a bad area of Portsmouth

Not to put this lightly, but I think anyone parking in certain parts of Portsmouth are gonna get shot.

[YEP]

Not to put this lightly, but I think anyone parking in certain parts of Portsmouth are gonna get shot.

Watch it! P-Town in da house.

[plnnr]

Portsmouth does have the new concert venue, which is terrific. Saw Tony Bennett there last year and had a great time.

[BF]

And the fact that YEP can post to this board means he/she doesn't park in those areas.

For some VB propaganda, here's the website.